DTSF Building Facade Scare

Thursday afternoon on Phillips Ave in Downtown Sioux Falls came with a scare for many area businesses and community members.

In the late morning hours of August 30th, The front facade of Vishnu Bunny, which connects a collection of shops on Phillips Ave, began to show signs of separating from the remainder of the building, causing concern of collapse.

The scare comes only a year and a half post a previous building collapse, which took place just a few doors down. The collapse took place during the holiday season of 2016 and caused both significant structural and financial stress on downtown life, as well as taking the life of local construction worker and beloved community member, Ethan McMahon. A new rooftop bar which replaced the Copper Lounge after the collapse was opened a little over a month ago. The close distance and eerie familiarity of the Phillips Ave facade incident on Thursday, left many far too cognizant of the recent disastrous collapse, and city officials scrambling for solutions and answers.

Sioux Falls Public Works, the building owners, and local officials took quick action to investigate the case and block off the affected areas to ensure safety for all downtown patrons and residents. Multiple press conferences were held throughout the day to update the community.

While work continues to repair the facade, and an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the damage, the shops have since reopened. Vishnu is asking clients and friends alike to enter through the back door of the tattoo & piercing shop, where business has continued as usual since the building was declared safe for use following the scare.